The present invention relates to communication standards for multimedia communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods for determining multiplex patterns in a third generation (3G) mobile communication system.
In recent years, much excitement has developed regarding the prospects for mobile communication systems with multimedia capability. For example, there is a great deal of public interest in the notion of a mobile telephone capable of transmitting and receiving both video and audio in real time—i.e., a mobile videophone.
The 3G-324M specification has been adopted to support real-time streaming of multimedia broadband wireless communication. The 3G-324M standard is a derivative of the ITU H.324 standard. The 3G-324M and ITU H.324 standards are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Within 3G-324M, various media streams may be defined. For example, such streams could include audio, video, data, speech, and control signals. In order to transmit these various media streams over a single transmission channel, 3G-324M uses the ITU-T H.223 multiplexing protocol. The ITU-T H.223 multiplexing protocol is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. H.223's basic function is to interleave the various media streams for transmission. Within this protocol, multiple multimedia packets are assembled into a single bit stream in accordance with a selected one of 16 available multiplex patterns.
In order to select the best one of the 16 available multiplex patterns, the H.324 and 3G-324M stacks loop over all the multiplex patterns and check which one fits the needs of the current frame being sent on the logical channels. This solution is problematic, however, in that it is overly complex and time consuming to loop through all of the multiplex patterns.
Thus, it is desirable to provide methods for determining multiplex patterns that do not loop through all available patterns.